Fox Sports To Produce Pair of Mic’ed Up, Commercial-Free Big East Hoops Telecasts

Following last season’s all-access women’s basketball game between St. John’s and Seton Hall, FOX Sports is offering up two commercial-free, mic’d up BIG EAST contests, including a men’s college basketball telecast for the first time ever.

During the Providence at DePaul men’s basketball game Friday, Jan. 12, on FS1 (8:30 PM ET) and the Creighton at Seton Hall women’s basketball contest Tuesday, Jan. 2, on FS2 (7:00 PM ET), head coaches will wear live microphones, giving viewers the chance to hear directly from the sidelines, huddles and locker rooms from tip-off through the final whistle and everything in between. Both matchups are presented commercial-free, allowing FOX Sports cameras and microphones to capture moments not normally available to a television audience.

“FOX Sports is excited to expand upon our commitment to broadcast innovation with our partners at the BIG EAST Conference,” says FOX Sports President, Production & Executive Producer John Entz. “We’d like to thank the four participating coaches, as well as BIG EAST Commissioner Val Ackerman, for the support they’ve given us and the willingness to collaborate they’ve shown us from Day 1 of our partnership. We can’t wait to build upon last season’s success and showcase these four programs in an incredibly unique way.”

Play-by-play announcer Joe Davis and analyst Len Elmore are on the call for Providence at DePaul with Friars head coach Ed Cooley and Blue Demons head coach Dave Leitao mic’d up on their respective benches. As they did for last year’s all-access telecast, play-by-play announcer Lisa Byington and analyst LaChina Robinson are courtside for Creighton-Seton Hall, with live audio from Bluejays head coach Jim Flanery and Pirates head coach Tony Bozzella, who was a breakout star of last year’s commercial-free game. FS1 and FS2 go to break just twice during the game presentations – at the start and end of halftimes, allowing crews to be in place for the coaches’ locker room speeches.

In addition to the telecasts on FS1 and FS2, FOX Sports GO offers two additional live streams for each contest, with a camera and audio dedicated to each coach for the duration of the game, allowing viewers to customize their experience. The additional streams, as well as the live stream of the telecast, can be accessed via the FOX Sports GO mobile app or on desktop at FOXSportsGO.com.

“The BIG EAST is thrilled to be able to build on the success of last season’s women’s all-access game by partnering with our colleagues at FOX Sports for two more games this season,” says Rick Gentile, BIG EAST Senior Associate Commissioner, Broadcasting. “We look forward to continuing to help our partners push the broadcast innovation envelope.”

The Providence-DePaul and Creighton-Seton Hall telecasts are the latest innovations brought to fans by FOX Sports Lab, a collaborative approach to developing technical partnerships that offer fresh perspectives to viewers.